It has been a rather unremarkable competition year for me to date. The only contest that I was satisfied with my results was the one in Sebring, where I finished Reserve Grand Champ with a 1st in Ribs. The weather at awards was brutally cold, in the low 30’s with a damp north blow. That was my first contest of the year, and it has been a challenge ever since.

Following that we had the FBA “Celebrate Last Year” party which was fun. The whole team came along and we had a great time in Lake City, where we received the coveted FBA Team of the Year award for the second year in a row. This is a very tough award to win, as it takes a lot of time and commitment to be able to cook enough contests, and do well enough in them to win. While it would be nice to take aim at a third TOTY in 2010, I’m not sure I’m up for it. I missed out on a lot of family stuff in 2009, which I don’t want to do again. There will always be more bbq contests, but you only get one chance with your children. Good luck to you guys!

Back in March I hosted my first competition-style barbecue class. I held it in north FL near the Suwannee River and we had a blast. Twenty five people from as far away as TX came to learn, and I showed them everything I know about competing over the two days. I covered everything from selecting the right meats right on up through building turn in boxes.

After checking out my Swamp Boys web site (www.swampboys.com) someone suggested to me that I take a look at the blogging format. The chronological set up of a blog is very similar to what I have been doing as I recap every contest I compete in. It looks like a fun change, so I am going to give it a try!

I can tell right away that it will take me some time to get used to the format of what goes where and how things should look, so please bear with me. I look forward to adding some meaningful content as I get more used to everything.